


The Longest Night of the Year

by poisonivory



Category: DCU, DCU - Comicverse, Justice League International (Comic)
Genre: Christmas, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-07
Updated: 2012-07-07
Packaged: 2017-11-09 09:32:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/453975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonivory/pseuds/poisonivory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“But thanks to you – well, you and Captain Cold – ” Ted’s voice rose “ – I get to spend Christmas Eve freezing to death in a meat locker!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Longest Night of the Year

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2008 Winter Boostlethon. Thanks to mizzmarvel and queenitsy for betaing!

**10 PM**

“‘Why can’t we ever fight any _real_ villains?’ you said.” 

“Shut up.” 

“‘I’m not asking for a galaxy-destroying monster,’ you said, ‘but how about a little Brainiac action? Or Two-Face? Heck, I’d even take a Green Lantern villain!’” 

“Shut _up_!” 

“‘Just some kind of real, genuine threat, you know? Something to show our stuff.’” 

“Ted, I swear, if you don’t cut it out…” 

“Well, you got your wish, Booster.” Ted made as sweeping a gesture as he could inside the force field. “That is, if one of Wally’s rogues is high profile enough for you. Otherwise I can see if Batman’ll send the Joker over for us to tussle with.” 

“‘Tussle’?” 

“You know, I’m a simple man,” Ted went on. 

“That’s for sure.” 

Ted ignored him. “I don’t ask for much. It’s enough for me to spend Christmas Eve by a fire, with some roasted chestnuts and a glass of port, feeling the warm glow of goodwill towards all God’s creation.” 

“You like to spend Christmas Eve in Victorian England?” 

“But thanks to _you_ – well, you and Captain Cold – ” Ted’s voice rose “ – I get to spend Christmas Eve freezing to death in a _meat locker_!” 

“Now wait a minute!” Booster said, frowning. “This isn’t _my_ fault. All I did was idly muse – “ 

“ _Very_ idly.” 

“ – that I’d like to fight some more… _well-known_ villains. I didn’t stop by Iron Heights and kindly request that Captain Cold break out and rob the _Salvation Army_. And I hardly think that he was listening at the door when I said the thing about Brainiac and decided to make my Christmas wish come true.” 

Ted shook his head. “How many times have I told you not to tempt fate?” 

“You tell me not to _tease_ Fate.” 

“No, not _Doctor_ Fate. Regular fate. If you say ‘At least it can’t get any worse,’ it’ll immediately get worse. If we’re lost at sea on a makeshift raft and you say ‘At least it’s not raining,’ it’ll immediately start raining.” 

“I don’t think that’s ever happened to us.” 

“And if you say ‘I wish we could fight some serious villains,’ one of them will immediately kill us.” 

“We’re not dead yet,” Booster pointed out. 

“Booster.” Ted’s expression was matter-of-fact. “We’re trapped in a meat locker with the cooling system on full-blast and three feet of ice sealing the door shut. Neither of our communicators are getting any signal. It’s the middle of the night, no one knows where we are, and no one _cares_ where we are, because they actually have families they want to spend the holiday with.” He stomped his feet. “And I think my toes are starting to go numb. Face it, it’s only a matter of time.” 

Booster looked thoughtful. “Well,” he said, “at least it can’t get any – “ 

“ _Shaddap_.” 

**11 PM**

“I d-don’t actually think the force field is k-keeping the c-cold out,” Booster said. 

“P-probably not,” Ted replied, hugging himself. “Heat is t-transmitted through t-touch, s-so the heat we’re g-giving off is b-being lost through the force field t-to the outside air.” 

“Then let’s k-keep walking.” Booster stood up and offered Ted a hand. 

Ted scowled one last time at the temperature controls for the freezer, buried under a sheet of ice courtesy of Len Snart’s cold gun, then let Booster pull him to his feet. “If I c-could get in there, I c-could t-turn it off in no t-time,” he said for the tenth time. 

“I know,” Booster said. He started pacing the freezer, and Ted trotted along beside him, caught within the golden sphere of the force field. They’d been doing this for an hour – alternating walking to keep warm with Ted examining the freezer controls, desperately trying to figure out a way to turn off the cooling system. They were pretty sure Cold hadn’t meant to leave them to their deaths – it wasn’t his style – but he couldn’t have known that Booster’s blasters would be damaged by the ice that had been hurled at them, leaving them with no escape from a supposedly temporary trap. 

“I suppose you c-could turn that off,” Ted said, nodding at the thin gold barrier in front of them. His teeth were chattering a little less now that he’d gotten his blood moving again. 

Booster shrugged. “I guess. It just…” 

“What?” 

“Even if it doesn’t _actually_ make it warmer, it kind of _seems_ like it does. Turning it off just seems like…giving up.” 

**12 AM**

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten._

Ted counted the steps again as they stumbled along. The freezer was square, and exactly ten paces along each side. 

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten._

“One thing about Bialya – at least it was warm,” Booster said with a wry little laugh. 

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten._

“Kooey Kooey Kooey, too.” 

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten._

“God, I wish we were there now.” 

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten._

**1 AM**

Booster stumbled badly, and Ted moved quickly – but not as quickly as he usually would – to catch him. 

“You okay?” he asked. Booster’s lips were pale, blueish. 

“Not used to cold,” Booster mumbled. “More climate control in the future. Suit not…not built for cold.” 

“Not to mention you don’t have a molecule of body fat,” Ted pointed out. “Come on, buddy, keep moving.” He tugged him forward, and Booster staggered along, his boots slipping on the thin crust of ice on the floor. 

He went down again almost immediately, though. “Booster, you’ve got to get up,” Ted said, pulling on his shoulder. 

“So tired…” Booster said. “Just want to…rest a minute.” 

Everything Ted had ever heard about mountain climbers crowded his head. “No, Booster, you can’t go to sleep.” He tugged uselessly on Booster’s arm, but Booster was solid and limp, and Ted was weak. 

“Not sleep,” Booster promised. “Just…rest.” 

Rest did sound nice. Ted knew he shouldn’t, but he sank down onto his knees anyway. 

“If we hold onto each other, we should be okay,” he said thickly. “Share body heat until I can…think of a way out of this. Or until a Saint Bernard shows up with some brandy.” 

He wrapped his arms around Booster, and Booster snuggled close obediently, all lean muscle and fresh shampoo smell. It was a scenario Ted had idly – and not so idly – envisioned in warmer environs, and as always, he covered his embarrassment with a joke. 

“Don’t get any ideas, now,” he mumbled. 

“…too late.” 

“What?” 

“Nothing.” 

**2 AM**

Booster was saying something. Ted strained to hear, strained to make sense of it. 

“…wan’ned to go out like this anyway,” Booster murmured, his consonants barely distinguishable. 

“Whuh?” Ted asked, and winced as his lips cracked. 

“Don’t wan’ die,” Booster said. “Too young. Too…pretty. But if I haveta die…like this. In my sleep. With you.” 

Ted was too frozen for words, so he settled for burying his face in the crook of Booster’s neck, now cold to the touch. 

**3 AM**

How long had it been? Maybe someone would find them at dawn. But this was the longest night of the year. 

**4 AM**

Ted couldn’t hear Booster’s pulse anymore. 

“Bss-stur,” he croaked, then “Booster!” 

There was the faintest flicker of an eyelid, but just that. It wouldn’t be long now. 

Something inside of him that was not yet frozen flared out in protest. _Not Booster._ Himself, fine. He always figured he’d go out at the hands of a third-string villain; Captain Cold was a step up from that. But no one was putting out Booster’s madcap, cocksure brightness while Ted had breath in his body; no one was extinguishing Booster’s light and warmth… 

…light and warmth… 

Ted fumbled for the BB gun at his hip. His fingers were sluggish, unresponsive, but he forced the panel open, forced himself to keep going. It was the only way to save Booster. If he redirected the power…rewired everything to go to the heating element… 

It took longer than he wanted it to, but he eventually had the wires twisted into place. He half-walked, half-crawled to the temperature control, leveled the BB gun at it, and pressed the trigger. 

A narrow, blue-hot beam of focused light shot out of the gun. The sudden heat through the nearly-frozen glass caused it to shatter, and Ted threw his free arm up to shield his face. Shards of glass cut lines in his forearm, but that didn’t matter right now, and he couldn’t feel them anyway. His trigger hand trembled, and he brought the other up to steady it, cutting through the layer of ice on the temperature controls until he could pry the rest of it away with his hands. 

He quickly shut down the refrigeration, but they were still in a freezer – there was no actual heating system. They still had to get out if they were going to survive. With a worried glance at Booster, he turned the BB gun towards the door. If the BB gun held out through this drain on its power…and if he was strong enough…and if Booster could hold on… 

“Hang on, buddy,” he said, and pressed the trigger again. 

**5:15 AM**

Outside the freezer’s thick walls, the communicator in his cowl crackled back to life. 

“Barb? Tell Wally Captain Cold’s hiding out in Metropolis, the abandoned storefront on Fifth and Main. And, uh…tell him to bring an ambulance.” 

**11 AM**

Ted was warm. In the distance, he could hear bells ringing. 

He opened his eyes, then quickly shut them again against the glare of winter sunlight through the window. He had been somewhere dark and cold, but where…? 

In a rush of images, he remembered – Captain Cold, the freezer, Barbara’s worried voice on the line, Wally offering to carry him, faster than ambulances, Ted insisting that Booster go first… 

_Booster._

Ted sat up, though his head thundered and every muscle screamed in protest. He was in a hospital room, warm and dry and wearing the traditional embarrassing hospital gown…and Booster was in the next bed over. 

Ted squinted. Beneath his blankets, Booster’s chest was rising and falling – evenly, deeply. Ted felt a rush of relief so powerful his head swam. 

Slowly, carefully, Ted swung his feet off of the bed and made his way across the cool linoleum to Booster’s bedside. He wavered on his feet for a minute before letting himself drop onto the mattress. 

The bounce of Ted sitting jolted Booster awake. He opened his eyes, bluer than ever against the raw red of his skin. “Ted?” 

Smiling hurt, but Ted did it anyway. “Hey, Booster buddy.” 

Booster glanced around the room. “Where…how’d we…?” 

“Hospital. I turned the BB gun into a heat gun and had Barbara call Wally.” 

Booster’s eyes crinkled, a tired approximation of a smile. “Clever clogs.” 

“That’s me.” 

“Booster…” Ted wetted his lips. “Do you remember what you said…before?” 

“About Brainiac? Ted, that was not my fault…” 

“No, no. About…the way you wanted to, um. To…to go.” 

Booster bit his lip, winced, and looked away. “I was delirious.” 

“Oh.” Ted looked at his hands. They were raw and red and blistered, but that was nothing new, and the shaking would stop soon, now that he knew Booster was okay. “I was wondering…” 

“Ted…” 

“…because I think that’s what I want, too,” he finished. 

Booster turned back to him, startled. 

“I thought you were going to die,” Ted went on. “And I couldn’t…I didn’t…” 

But Booster’s hand slipped into his, and he didn’t have to say what he didn’t have the words for. 

“You missed your port,” Booster said after a long moment. 

“The bottle will still be there when I get home,” Ted said, and shivered. 

Booster frowned. “Are you cold? Why are you sitting out in your butt-gown? Get under your blankets!” 

Ted looked over at his bed. It seemed awfully far away. 

“Scoot over,” he told Booster. 

It wasn’t very roomy beneath the three blankets they’d heaped on Booster, but it was warm, and when Ted tucked his head into the curve of Booster’s neck he could feel Booster’s pulse beating steadily. And he was definitely still recuperating, for he felt himself drifting into unconscious almost immediately. 

In the distance, the bells rang out again, and suddenly Ted remembered why. 

“Oh, hey, it’s Christmas,” he said, his voice muffled by Booster and by sleep. 

“Mmm,” Booster agreed, his voice a rumble in Ted’s skin. “Merry Christmas.”


End file.
